28000 Poly Limit?

[Guest]

I seem to have run across an unexpected and unexplained snag using GMax and the export plugin from MSFS.If the total poly count exceeds 28,000 the model will (most often) fail on export, crashing GMax with no explanation at all... The odd thing is, that 1 out of 30 tries to export will complete, and makemdl.exe will quite happily complete the compile to final model!BTW, the model is all 'editable poly,' and consists mainly of patches, splines and lofted parts. No abnormalities are detected or reported during the compile, so I'm confident it isn't a case of co-located vertices, etc.Does anyone have a clue to help solve this? TIABillAVSIM OmbudsmanFounder and Director,Creative Recycling of Aircraft Partshttp://catholic-hymns.com/frbill/FS2002/images/fartslogo.jpg

[Guest odog]

I have a rediculous model for my own pleasure. It is a F-5 Tiger and it is 59,850 polys. exports just fine.my experience with these random failures is texture related. post the last few lines of your error log.open gmax and click new, open 'another' gmax and open your model.go to the new gmax and merge the model in. Sometimes this will drop any unused texture slots and try to exportjoe(lefty)

[Guest]

Hi Joe!Thanks for the reply. How's the busted right wing? You know the "project" I'm referring to , so also know the reasons for my concern and mild panic! :)>I have a rediculous model for my own pleasure. It is a F-5>Tiger and it is 59,850 polys. exports just fine.>>my experience with these random failures is texture related. >>post the last few lines of your error log.2003/09/23 00:06:54 INF: Loaded C:gmaxgamepacksFlightSimCitation IICII_fuse_wing_6.gmax2003/09/23 00:06:57 INF: Job: C:gmaxgamepacksFlightSimCitation IICII_fuse_wing_6.gmaxThis is not terribly useful information... :(There were some other entries from another project with failed exports that listed "unsupported texture files" in the error log. The absence of such in this (failed) export would seem to eliminate textures as a problem.>open gmax and click new, open 'another' gmax and open your>model.>go to the new gmax and merge the model in. Sometimes this will>drop any unused texture slots and try to exportI've just done that and will try a full export while I finish getting ready for $work... :)BillAVSIM OmbudsmanFounder and Director,Creative Recycling of Aircraft Partshttp://catholic-hymns.com/frbill/FS2002/images/fartslogo.jpg

[Guest]

>Hi Joe!>>open gmax and click new, open 'another' gmax and open your>>model.>>go to the new gmax and merge the model in. Sometimes this>will>>drop any unused texture slots and try to export>>I've just done that and will try a full export while I finish>getting ready for $work... :)Well, I did exactly that and still no joy. Even with 27,864 polys selected, the export failed with NO explanation...Just the very non-helpful "Your Application has encountered an error and will now close..." BillAVSIM OmbudsmanFounder and Director,Creative Recycling of Aircraft Partshttp://catholic-hymns.com/frbill/FS2002/images/fartslogo.jpg

[Guest odog]

hey bill, my pins are coming out next week (thankfully), one more time under the knife and the healing can begin. I would also try to grab the x file, and drag it onto an older version of MakeMDL, might work. That fix specular option is cool, but it causes some bugs too. Have you got VC gauges to show through a reflective _T window? not me... normal window texture, no problem.tried everything.gmax (throws hands, er hand in the air)joe

[Guest]

>hey bill,>> my pins are coming out next week (thankfully), one more time>under the knife and the healing can begin.Well, that's a good thing!>> I would also try to grab the x file, and drag it onto an>older version of MakeMDL, might work.Joe, that's the point... the x files never get created, because the FS export .dll isn't completing its job!So, it's not a problem with MiddleMan, ModelCommander or even Makemdl.exe...>That fix specular option>is cool, but it causes some bugs too. Have you got VC gauges>to show through a reflective _T window? not me... normal>window texture, no problem.>tried everything.Since I don't use textures of any type, reflective or otherwise, it's never been a problem for me. The one a/c that I did use a texture on, I had no problems.BillAVSIM OmbudsmanFounder and Director,Creative Recycling of Aircraft Partshttp://catholic-hymns.com/frbill/FS2002/images/fartslogo.jpg

[Guest Fly1]

Hey Bill,Some of the symptoms I have seen ...I am pushing 49K+ on the Legacy for FS9, and I find anytime I make an addition to the exterior model, which has the bulk of the animations, I will get similar errors, which appear to be related to the animated objects. Scale matrix / animation - blah blah. You helped me with this once, and yes resetting the scale fixes it, but it is knowing which pieces are faulty. Lately I have isolated it to two particular pieces that repeatedly go bad. I fix them, they work OK until the next time I add something to the model. I have also tried earlier versions of makemdl and the problem still occurs. In my modeling I keep two files, one exterior model and one interior. I merge them when I want to export to FS. I have found that both will export fine individually, but sometimes error out when combined. If I keep hacking at it, finally it will finish.I have also had cases when parts will go bad when grouped, i.e. animated parts.Very frustrating!!Good Luck!!!!Bob C.

[Guest Milton]

Yes, similar results with grouping ... I never group now, just link, except of course the exterior and interior models as a whole.Bill, the one strange thing I found on rare occasion when the model gets large is that replacing the target .mdl eliminated my issues. It seemed to happen when after optimizing or eliminating unused textures and the resulting model became smaller instead of larger. Only after replacing the target .mdl would the new model export. Might be worth a try.If not, then try the process of elimination to either reduce animated parts or polys until you find the culprit, assuming its not just a "size" or "number of" issue.

[Guest]

>Yes, similar results with grouping ... I never group now,>just link, except of course the exterior and interior models>as a whole.>>Bill, the one strange thing I found on rare occasion when the>model gets large is that replacing the target .mdl eliminated>my issues. It seemed to happen when after optimizing or>eliminating unused textures and the resulting model became>smaller instead of larger. Only after replacing the target>.mdl would the new model export. Might be worth a try.>>If not, then try the process of elimination to either reduce>animated parts or polys until you find the culprit, assuming>its not just a "size" or "number of" issue.Well, I'm at my wit's end... having tried every suggestion and idea (no matter how crackpot)... Even after eliminating all co-located vertices - no matter how much MakeMdle didn't care about 'em - still no joy. :(BillAVSIM OmbudsmanFounder and Director,Creative Recycling of Aircraft Partshttp://catholic-hymns.com/frbill/FS2002/images/fartslogo.jpg

[Guest Alexander_EFG]

Hi Bill,How about the following:- Ambigious partnames. I had an issue when exporting the model that two parts had the same name. One time it does export other time it doesn't.- You might want to check the size of your pagefile (Windows).- Have you tried to delete some parts and export in order to hunt down any incorrect parts?Cheers,

[Guest]

>Hi Bill,>>How about the following:>- Ambigious partnames. I had an issue when exporting the model>that two parts had the same name. One time it does export>other time it doesn't.>- You might want to check the size of your pagefile>(Windows).>- Have you tried to delete some parts and export in order to>hunt down any incorrect parts?Thanks for all the tips guys... I installed GMax on a PIV 2.6 GHz box under XP Pro last night and the .gmax will export and compile just fine...It's amazing what a relatively new "hot rod" can do that a lowly, antique PIII/850 MHz machine with Win98SE can't... :)In the process of checking each part individually though, at least it gave me excuse to stomp all all 'co-located vertices' that somehow snuck into the model... :)BillAVSIM OmbudsmanFounder and Director,Creative Recycling of Aircraft Partshttp://catholic-hymns.com/frbill/FS2002/images/fartslogo.jpg

[Guest odog]

>>>In the process of checking each part individually though, at least it gave me excuse to stomp all all 'co-located vertices' that somehow snuck into the model... :)Yeah, I read an article that said importing a model on to an old beater system would cause 'co-located verts' to sneak into an otherwise perfect model.you believe me.. dont ya? ;-)

[Guest]

>Yeah, I read an article that said importing a model on to an>old beater system would cause 'co-located verts' to sneak into>an otherwise perfect model.>>you believe me.. dont ya? ;-)Oh sure, of course I do, old wise master of the vertices! :)Fortunately for me, I don't have a better half (or worse half for that matter!) whom I need to convince that I really, really need another new computer just for GMaxing... :)I am really baffled by the main gear doors though... trying to weld vertices with a tolerance even as fine as 0.01 will collapse thedoors into an unrecognizable mess of melted triangles... :) ???BillAVSIM OmbudsmanFounder and Director,Creative Recycling of Aircraft Partshttp://catholic-hymns.com/frbill/FS2002/images/fartslogo.jpg